That’s what Tyrone Romero Hartsfield said, Stephfan Wilson told a Jacksonville jury Thursday, after Hartsfield emerged, gun in hand, from behind a Riverside apartment, saying that he’d finally gotten even with the Jaguars player who punched him at a club months earlier.

As Wilson and Hartsfield sped off into the night, Richard Collier clung to life, shot six times, his NFL career over. He survived but lost his left leg and remains paralyzed below the waist.

Wilson is the first witness to link Hartsfield to the shooting as Hartsfield’s attempted murder trial moved through its third day. Later, Wilson wore a hidden wire for police to implicate Hartsfield, but jurors haven’t heard that five-hour conversation yet.

Collier, 28, was ambushed in September 2008 after leaving Square One in San Marco with former teammate Kenny Pettway, a woman Collier had dated and her sister. Collier was shot in the back inside his Cadillac Escalade as he and Pettway waited for Collier’s date on Riverside Avenue.

But Wilson testified the genesis of the shooting began four months earlier, when Collier punched Hartsfield, 33, at Soho nightclub in Arlington. He said Hartsfield was obsessed with “getting even.”

“He said he was going to get him,” Wilson testified. “I just told him, 'Man, leave it alone. Basically go file a police report and let it go.’ ”

Hartsfield did show up at police headquarters later that morning with a friend to file a misdemeanor battery report. He said his assailant’s name was Collier and he had a vanity tag on his car that said “BIGRICH.”

Officer D.T. Flores said that wasn’t enough information to take the case further, prompting defense attorney Patrick McGuinness to ask whether that’s the type of investigation citizens can expect when they report a crime to police.

“Is there a different law for average citizens and Jaguars?” McGuinness asked.

Flores replied that he gave Hartsfield information about contacting the State Attorney’s Office, just as he would any citizen.

In the days after the Soho incident, Wilson said Hartsfield talked of revenge and told him he had driven by Collier’s Southside home while delivering merchandise for Circuit City.

Then, when the two went to Square One together on Labor Day, Wilson testified Hartsfield spotted Collier in the crowd and asked Wilson if he knew someone who could bring him a gun.

He said he called one acquaintance who agreed but never showed up.

Collier told a former girlfriend, Genell Norris, at the club that night that he’d seen the man he hit at Soho. She said he didn’t seem worried or afraid.

“He just told me that the guy was eyeing him,” Norris testified. She said she advised Collier to leave.

Meanwhile, Hartsfield had gotten a gun from his cousin, Wilson testified.

But the cousin, Jack Collier ­— who is not related to Richard Collier — denied delivering a gun to Hartsfield and said he didn’t remember repeated calls between his cell phone and Hartsfield’s originating in San Marco.

“I did not go to the club,” he testified. “I did not bring a little gun or nothing.”

He said he thought about stopping by Square One after a date but changed his mind after realizing how late it was. Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda said he concocted that story to match phone records that show his cell phone in San Marco that morning.

Wilson said he and Hartsfield waited outside as the bar closed, then followed Pettway and Richard Collier, even after they appeared to get lost and made a U-turn. They eventually wound up on Riverside Avenue. Hartsfield pulled onto the curb and ran behind an apartment, where they could see the Escalade’s taillights, Wilson testified.

He said he heard two bursts of gunfire before Hartsfield ran back and told Wilson to drive.

“I did what I was told to,” Wilson said. “… It could have easily happened to me what happened to them.

Wilson testified police showed up at his workplace a month later and confronted him with phone records showing calls between him and Hartsfield. He told police what happened and agreed to the wire.

Wilson, who is on probation in an Atlanta bank robbery, said he didn’t want to be a snitch but also didn’t want to return to prison. He discounted Hartsfield’s alibi that he came to and left Square One with his fiancee.

Wilson’s testimony essentially highlighted a day that featured a half dozen witnesses who were at the clubs with Collier and Hartsfield. Norris testified both men were at Soho at the same time the Friday before the shooting, without incident.

Several said Hartsfield wore a white T-shirt and jean shorts to Square One. A Riverside woman previously testified she saw a shooter with a white T-shirt and khaki pants firing into Collier’s truck.

Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper also dealt with extracurricular drama in court when one of Hartsfield’s cousins laughed after a club promoter testified he recognized Hartsfield from the newspaper. Another cousin then disrupted testimony when she tried to re-enter the courtroom.Cooper banned both from the rest of the trial.

“We are not going to have this trial disrupted with this ridiculous behavior,” the judge said. “This is not a social event.”

Testimony will resume this morning but will conclude early because of traffic related to the Georgia-Florida game, Cooper said. She said the trial will continue into next week.

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"It does not take a majority to prevail....but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

0 points

CryptoCop

Friday, October 30, 2009 @ 1:35 pm

I'm not one to bash JSO but come on. Not enough info? Ie: name and tag. This whole thing smells like week old fish.

Do you know how many reports the police get where the only "evidence" is an allegation by the complainant? So they had the tag number. I can see it now, they invest an hour or so in driving out to his house and then:

Officer: Mr. Collier, did you batter Mr. Hartsfield yesterday?

Collier: No.

Officer: Oh... OK, thanks!

It's all about managing resources and prioritizing. A misdemeanor report that is filed the day AFTER an incident is not going to get a lot of resources thrown at it. It's just the way it works, it doesn't stink of anything. Anybody who has worked in law enforcement will tell you the same thing. I just can't see them activating the major case squad over a misdemeanor scuffle at a bar. Had it been a serious attack with injuries and Mr. Hartsfield reported it immediately, it may have received more attention. I have gone to so many calls at bars and clubs where a third party reported a fight, only to have the bleeding victim refuse to cooperate. My mentality in these cases is this: If the victim doesn't care, why should I? It may not be the sort of "investigation" that everybody thinks they "deserve", but if Hartsfield REALLY were concerned with ACTUAL justice and not just revenge, he'd have followed the officer's instructions regarding getting it handled in the court by going to the SAO.

"There is probable cause to believe that the person has committed an act of domestic violence, as defined in s. 741.28, or child abuse, as defined in s. 827.04(2) and (3), or any battery upon another person, as defined in s. 784.03, and the law enforcement officer reasonably believes that there is danger of violence unless the person alleged to have committed the act of domestic violence, child abuse, or battery is arrested without delay."

So they couldn't go arrest Collier without a warrant, obviously there was no need for an immediate arrest and no officer in their right mind would swear out a warrant based on an allegation with no physical evidence to back up the complainants assertion he was hit. I know I wouldn't. In my jurisdiction it used to be that complainants were able to swear out misdemeanor arrest warrants in this kind of situation. The end result was a "tit for tat"cycle where two fueding parties would file reports of alleged assaults and such and then get warrants to harass their nemesis by getting them locked up, wasting numerous hours of our time and the courts, not to mention taxpayer dollars. That process, thankfully, is no longer in place.

And if the guys outook on life is that he if big and rich, whats it to you? He doesnt have to please anyone.. he worked hard to get to that point of his life. There are broke people out there that still have a mentality of `screw you all..`

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. - Mark Twain

23 points

Right Again

Friday, October 30, 2009 @ 12:43 pm

You beat me to it Shaming of the true! Thanks for pointing out that mahFL is an idiot. Another example of blaming the victim. Using wealth envy to excuse the actions of a murderous criminal. Thats typical of what this county has become.